


The Minotaur and the Second Chance

by nonky



Category: Nancy Drew (TV 2019)
Genre: Gen, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:00:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23564194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nonky/pseuds/nonky
Summary: Ryan only drove a few minutes before he was muttering curses under his breath.  He'd never stranded a girl along the highway in his life, not even as an idiot teenager. In the moment it had felt justified. Nancy was nothing to him anyway, and their weird history of favours didn't bond them. She couldn't talk to him like that. He wouldn't put up with it.A little mid-episode scene with spoilers from 1x17, from Ryan's POV.
Relationships: Nancy Drew & Ryan Hudson
Comments: 5
Kudos: 69
Collections: Nancy Drew TV Series (2019)





	The Minotaur and the Second Chance

The whole world felt disrespectful, looking down on him for once being young and in love.

Ryan only drove a few minutes before he was muttering curses under his breath. He'd never stranded a girl along the highway in his life, not even as an idiot teenager. In the moment it had felt justified. Nancy was nothing to him anyway, and their weird history of favours didn't bond them. She couldn't talk to him like that. He wouldn't put up with it.

Except she'd looked like she might be sick, gasping and gagging so hard she was pulling her own hair. And he didn't know what was wrong, but it wasn't safe to flag down a ride. If her phone didn't have a signal she would have been stuck walking a long while. The cliff was right there, and not a lot of space to safely keep out of traffic. 

He wasn't sure where the conversation had gone so nasty. Nancy had been asking him if he'd been ready to be a teenage father. With Lucy, he liked to think he would have learned. Without her, that poor baby would have gotten screwed. He wasn't patient or good with people. Hell, he couldn't get through a day with a teenager without getting into a shouting match. 

But as he was driving quickly back, Ryan started feeling like he might get it. She'd been asking overly personal questions in a halting tone, like she knew she was prying. Nancy wasn't usually shy about anything. She'd asked for privacy with the doctor, confirmed Lucy was pregnant, and then started picking at all the painful what might have been ideas he'd been trying to ignore.

The doctor had said Nancy wasn't pregnant, but that was only what they'd filled in on the patient information to skip the blood test with the nurse. Maybe she was or thought she might be, and saw her chance to find out in privacy. It would be jarring at any age, and she was young. She definitely didn't have any money to raise a child. Ryan thought she was sort of dating Owen Marvin, but he didn't know how serious that was to a Marvin. They didn't tend to marry poor or even middle class. 

His foot pressed harder on the gas. It made sense she'd asked her questions from his lost opportunity. She was trying to come to terms with her own pregnancy at 18. He'd shouted at a relatively innocent young woman, and abandoned her because he was too impatient and hot tempered. He'd left her pregnant on the side of the highway for anyone else to come along and hurt her and her baby. 

In that moment, he realized he would have tried hard with a baby from Lucy. He wouldn't have been good at it, or might even have failed. But he couldn't have looked into Lucy's blue eyes like he did Nancy's and written the situation off as a hassle beneath his notice. 

Maybe he could find her and offer some help. He didn't know about kids but he could make sure Nancy had some money if her father wasn't supportive. He could keep her off the street and ensure she wasn't stuck with that jerk Owen. He could come through for Nancy and show himself he'd at least improved that much in the lifetime since he'd lost a family he never knew could have been his own. 

Ryan was welling up a little as he got back to the spot he'd left her, registering Nancy was gone. He knew she was resourceful and would likely be fine, but at least a few of his tears were for her. It was such a tight spot, every option asking too much. He hadn't been enough. Lucy was right to doubt him, because when none of his money had been his own he would have crumbled under his father's decision and ultimately given up fighting.

Defeat bunched in his shoulders as he reached over and picked up her necklace off the floor mat. He'd return that, at least, and try to do that favour he'd promised. Some men just weren't meant to be fathers.


End file.
